


Rock Steady

by Yeomanrand



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Friendship, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-18
Updated: 2010-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-07 08:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeomanrand/pseuds/Yeomanrand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim has trouble sleeping unless he's in McCoy's bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rock Steady

Since the five-year mission started, Jim has learned a few things he didn't already know about Leonard H. McCoy.

For one thing, the man sleeps on his stomach, and his body temperature must go up a few degrees; his hands are always warm. For another, as far as Jim can tell he's always fully cognizant, even in sleep, something Jim's not sure if he's envious of or worried about. But he knows that when he shows up in Bones' room at some ungodly hour of the morning, Bones will just shift over, hazel eyes barely cracking open, somehow _aware_ Jim's the one in his doorway.

Jim knows this last because three weeks ago, when he'd once again woken in a cold sweat and retreated to Bones' bed, Danix, the third-shift physician, had shown up at McCoy's door only a few minutes after him. And Bones had sat up instantly, asking what was wrong. And he'd gone to surgery, and Jim had spent the rest of what would have been a sleepless night anyway reassuring a devastated Scotty that the junior engineer's burns would heal.

And _maybe_ Bones' sudden alertness was just because Jim was already in Bones' bed, but he doesn't think so.

He hasn't slept well in his own bed since they left Earth, almost six months ago. Tonight is no exception; he comes out of sleep shaking, drenched in icy sweat and already headed for his feet, headed for the sonic shower and clean dry clothes, headed for Bones' room.

Tarsus, the _Narada_, Frank, Vulcan, Sam, all their lost classmates ... it doesn't matter what's woken him up, driven him to seek solace in Bones' bed, because Bones never asks.

Jim did, once. In retrospect, the answer hadn't really been surprising.

"You've already figured out how I can fix this for you," Bones had said, broad shoulders rolling in a small shrug, "and I know if you want to tell me, you will."

Jim didn't want to talk then, and he doesn't want to talk tonight, and when the door's half-open, letting in the gamma-shift light from the hall, Bones has already rolled over, back to the wall, making room on the narrow bed for Jim to slide in alongside. Which he does, and before he's got the blanket all the way up, Bones' arm is draped across his waist, his body -- still warm and heavy with sleep -- conforming to Jim's. His breathing already settling back into a slow, even rhythm.

And yet Jim knows if he needed to talk, Bones would be instantly alert and responsive.

But he doesn't need -- or want -- any more than this, his eyes drifting closed and the last of the nightmare tension dissipating beneath Bones' presence like fog beneath the sun.


End file.
